Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends Wiki Guide

Campaign Strategy

A single-player campaign in Rise of Legends allows the player to make strategic decisions about the development and placement of armies, buildup of territories, and growth of heroes. This section of the guide provides tips for playing the campaign scenarios, the strategic "outer map" game, and specifics for the three campaigns.

General Campaign Play - Scenarios

Tip #1: Pay attention to the goals. It is important to remember that unlike multiplayer, the goals of a single-player scenario can differ quite a bit from scenario to scenario. It is important to take careful stock of the situation.

Tip #2: Watch the load screens. Pay attention to the load screen. The presence of an enemy leader icon indicates a supporting army is reinforcing the scenario. Be prepared to deal with the additional challenge of this enemy's army during the scenario. The deeper into the campaign, the more powerful the reinforcing army will be.

Tip #3: Build up if you can. Take advantage of opportunities to build up your forces inside of a scenario. In many scenarios the enemy has vast forced already prepared. Attacking them prematurely can result in the enemy's larger forces wiping out your army.

Tip #4: Control the pace. Control the flow of a scenario by not completing quests until you are ready for whatever might come next. Finishing a quest can often trigger events or other quests that you may not be prepared for, particularly on a higher difficulty setting. On the other hand be careful not to miss important side-quests that may provide extra experience awards for your heroes.

General Campaign Play -- Strategic Map

Tip #1: Eliminate enemy armies. Enemy armies are the real threat on the strategic map. They attack your territories and reinforce scenarios making them harder. Defeating them in the field only drives them back. In the Alin campaign you can defeat these armies directly, but in the Vinci and Cuotl campaigns an army defeated in the field will regroup. To fully eliminate such an army you need to capture their capital territory.

Tip #2: Wealth is important. You need wealth from cities to build more districts. The sooner you build merchant districts the more wealth you'll produce over the course of the game. Your first district should always be a merchant district. From there you should attempt to build as many merchant districts as you can get away with. The more you make, the more you'll be able to build up.

Tip #3: Palace districts are even MORE important. Palace districts provide reoccurring income of all major resources. They are extremely powerful and building several of them should be your primary goal.

Tip #4: Defend exposed territories. Place military districts on the outside of your territory if an enemy army is threatening. Ideally you want to build as few military districts as you can get away with, placing them only as needed to prevent an enemy army from taking your territory. Never build military districts in the middle or back of your area if you can help it. These provide no meaningful defense and raise the cost of other districts in the city.

Tip #5: Don't forget the move-then-attack option. Many players overlook the fact the ability to move into a controlled territory before attacking. This makes the player's army very versatile. A powerful way to employ this ability is to attack on one front and then get back to counter-attack an enemy army that threatens one of your territories.

Tip #6: Level up a few heroes first. Typically a scenario won't provide a chance to summon all your heroes. In some cases you may only summon one or two. Be sure to invest in getting one or two heroes to maximum level as quickly as possible.

Tip #7: Upgrade your grunts. Your main-line infantry units, "grunts", are your most common unit. Upgrading them will have a big impact on the power of your army.

The Vinci Campaign

The Vinci campaign revolves around the main hero, Giacomo, building an army to defeat the evil Doge Alessadri of Venucci. The first three scenarios of the campaign provide setup and, optionally, tutorial for the player. The strategic play starts for real after the events of the third scenario. At this point you'll have four heroes and a small army to play with.

A good approach is to take out one or both of the Doge's flunkies before attempting an assault on Venucci. Condottieri Castle is too powerful to attack right away so move either north or west depending on which way Lord Rocco and Don Sclario moved. You want to move toward an enemy that has moved away from you and is busy gather up neutral territories. Usually, capturing 2-3 territories is enough to prepare you for an attack on the enemy capital if it's not reinforced.

Proceed carefully, adding territory and building as many palace districts as you can. Make sure you develop your siege technologies even if you don't add the units to your army. Siege equipment makes several scenarios much easier, particularly the final scenarios in Ranconi and Venucci.

The Alin Campaign

In the Alin Campaign, Giacomo must locate the lost city of Mezakesh while making sure that Azar Harif does not fall. The enemy armies are more numerous and territories they control may become corrupted -- which makes them more difficult. The advantage here lies in the ability to defeat enemy armies in the field. Unlike the other campaigns where an army must lose its capital to be fully destroyed, the Dark Alin armies are destroyed wherever they are defeated. Giacomo should aggressively attempt to eliminate any army that threatens his territory. Don't forget to use the ability to move-then-attack to reach enemies that otherwise seem far away.

The extra heroes that can be found in some scenarios are particularly useful in this campaign. Head for the Southern Dunes to gain access to Belisari. Andromolek and Pulitore are also worth acquiring but Belisari is more generally useful and is easily accessible from the start.

The final scenario of this campaign relies heavily on the individual capabilities of your heroes. Take care to pursue optional side-quests and play as many scenarios as possible in order to maximize the level of your heroes.

The Cuotl Campaign

The Cuotl campaign has the player in somewhat close-quarters with multiple powerful enemy armies. Pay close attention to where the enemy armies can reach within two moves at all times.

Slipping around the enemies to attack an under-defended capital isn't as easy here as it was in the Vinci campaign. Avoid confronting the enemy armies on their home turf until you are strong enough. Deal with the Sun God first so you won't end up having to move "backward" later on.

Much like the Alin campaign, the final scenario depends a great deal on the capabilities of the heroes. Take care to gather as much hero experience as possible.